Eiyuu
by The Mauve Lantern
Summary: Wimpy Sena Kobayakawa has been running away from trouble all his life. But, after a bizarre incident, Sena undergoes a miraculous change. Now, his super-speed has earned him the title of Eyeshield 21, the fastest man alive! AU, R
1. Chapter 1: The Fastest Man Alive!

**Eiyuu**

By The Mauve Lantern

**Chapter 1: The Fastest Man Alive!**

_Deimon City is an average metropolis: it has its sleepy suburbs and its bustling city, its homes and its skyscrapers. The streets are sometimes quiet, sometimes busy; it is filled with various businesses, all of them meeting the needs of Deimon's citizens. There is a modest level of crime, but the police have been capable, thus far, of combating it. Thus far, that is, until today…_

_Today, the First National Bank of Japan is being held up by a team of criminals, known as the Crime Brothers, and they are here for all the money in the building. They are armed with machine guns and bombs, and they will not be stopped._

"_Put the money in the sack," Sho tells the woman at the counter, "and no one will be killed by my friends." He gestures to the other "brothers" with his gun, who are strapping bombs to the quivering hostages in the room. This is their fail-safe: if the police even THINK of coming in, they, and all the hostages, will be blown to kingdom come!_

_Sho laughs to himself. "I can't believe how smooth this is going," he thinks to himself. "Of course, this is all because of my ingenious planning and plotting. No one will dare come in, for fear of killing the others in the bank; this plan is fool-proof!" He laughs maniacally, and shouts, "There is no one who can stop us, boys!"_

_His partners-in-crime join in his sadistic merriment, howling with laughter. They don't stop until they notice Tora has been thrown into the wall, as if by some kind of invisible force._

"_Who's there?!" roars Sho. "Show yourself!"_

"_Sorry," a disembodied voice replies, "I don't think I'll be doing that." A blur of red and black dashes by two more men, and they are stripped of their weapons and knocked out by a blow to their guts. _

_Soon, all the criminals are disarmed, save for Sho, who has randomly shot at where he thinks this invisible enemy is, only for the bullet to stop and fall to the ground. "Out of ammo?" asks the voice when Sho stops to reload his gun, "Well then, you won't need this!" The gun begins to glow red-hot, and he drops it before it can burn his hand._

"_Wh-Who are you?" Sho whispers, unsure of whether or not he wants the answer._

_The dark-colored blur stops in front of him, revealing a tall man, trim and muscular, with the physique of a runner. The man is wearing a skin-tight costume: it is red with a black stripe down the center, with a crimson "21" in the center; his boots are a fiery red, and he wears red gloves with black undersides. On his head is a helmet that is patterned after his costume, and has stylized bat wings coming off the side. A green eyeshield obscures his face, though his mouth is let exposed, revealing a cocky smirk._

"_I'm Eyeshield 21," says the man, "and you are entering a world of pain." In the blink of an eye, he is in front of Sho, and has punched him right through the wall, running at a speed upwards of 300 miles per hour._

_After untying the hostages and stripping them of the bombs strapped to their chest, the hero dusts his hands off, and boldly declares, "Well, my work here is done!" and he dashes out of the building and into the distance, where, undoubtedly, another crime is being committed. Such is the life of a hero._

_The hero…EYESHIELD 21!_

---

Young Sena Kobayakawa put down the comic book his cousin in America had sent him, and sighed. "Man, what I wouldn't give to be a superhero, just for one day!" He looked at the cover again: The Flash was fighting his archenemies, the Rouges, who were bombarding him with lightning, fire, ice, and all other sorts of death.

"Never mind," the young man said, realizing the pain superheroes must go through, "I could never be one of those guys. Doing something crazy, like stopping a bunch of robbers? Not for me."

Sena is, or will be, a student at Deimon University. Technically, students don't have to move in until January 10th; his mother was sick of him pacing around the house, however, so she forced Sena to move into an apartment. His friend Mamori had been gracious enough to allow him lodging at her place. After all, she was a second-year at DU.

The not-quite-a-student glanced over at the clock on the wall, and almost jumped when he saw the time. "Oh my god! Nine o' clock already?!" He dashed into his bedroom to grab a pair of clothes. "I told Mamori I'd meet her at the bookstore in ten minutes!"

When he hurried into the bathroom to take a quick shower, Sena couldn't help but look in the mirror, amazed at how much he had grown since high school. Just a few years ago, he had been a mere 5'1", one of the smallest guys in his class; now, the boy had gone through a growth spurt, and had reached a height of 5'7", which was just fine with him. As he gazed at his reflection, Sena brushed away a lock of brown hair that was hanging in his eyes. His mother had always nagged him about getting a haircut, but Sena preferred his hair longer; it might have helped if he attempted to tame it down, but the boy couldn't be forced to do that.

When he realized he had spent a couple of minutes admiring his physique in the mirror, Sena gasped, and a look of panic crossed his eyes. "Mamori is gonna kill me!" he screamed as he jumped into the shower.

***

Fifteen minutes later (he had drifted into a daydream while showering), Sena was sprinting down the street to the library, his brown hair flowing in the breeze. His face grew concerned when he checked his watch. "I'm sososo dead!"

Mamori was a sweet girl, that's for sure, but sometimes she could be like a mother to him. If he ever aced a test ("Yeah, right!" Sena thought to himself.), she would be there to offer some advice, along with some sugary treats; when he ever committed some heinous blunder, the auburn-haired girl would yank him by the ear and give him a stern lecture. "And yet," he says in his mind with a laugh, "she's still better than Mom!"

While he was running, full-throttle, down the street, he noticed a petite girl riding on a pair of bright, white roller skates. She had short hair, the color of a midnight sky, and large, almond-shaped eyes; her dark irises glistened in the sunlight. Because it was winter, this girl wore a dark, indigo jacket, which matched her hair, and tight, purple sweatpants.

"Woah." Sena couldn't help but feel his breath taken away by this girl, who he has never met. The way the new-fallen snow glistened around her only helps to image more awe-inspiring. "She's…beautiful…" For what seemed an eternity, the boy stood there and watched her skate around at the top of a set of steps. It wasn't until a BEEP-BEEP resonated from his cellphone that Sena turned away.

Flipping open his phone, he discovered a text message from Mamori, which read, "Sena! Where r u?! Ur late!!! :-("

"Aw, man! I'm so DEAD!" he shouted as he resumed his race to the bookstore. He didn't get far before he was stopped by a shriek of fear. The boy turned to his right, and immediately started into a dead-sprint. The skating girl has gone off a high wall; at the angle she was falling, she would surely break her neck or her skull. Either way, she seemed a goner.

Sena pushed his legs with everything he had, until he found himself just a few feet away from the girl. At the speed he was going, however, he would not make it. "Come on, come on, come ON!"

"I'VE GOT YOU!" he shouted, as he jumped through the air in an effort to catch the screaming girl. Through some miraculous stroke of luck, Sena found himself right below her, though not in the way he planned…

THUMP! Sena crashed onto the ground, his face hitting the pavement. "Owowowowwwwwww…" He grimaced as he lay there on the ground until he felt someone on his back. Turning his neck as much as he could, Sena found the skater girl slowly righting herself, nary a scratch on her body.

She mumbled something incoherent, though it sounded something like, "What did I hit?" before her large eyes locked with Sena's chocolate ones. "Who is he?" she asked in her mind. "Why is he- wait, did he just…was he the one who saved me?!"

Below her, the young man said "Umm, hi." She realized, just then, that she was lying on the poor guy's back.

"OhmygodI'msosorry!" The girl scrambled to her feet, which she handled rather deftly, considering the fact that she was wearing skates. "Are you okay?! Do you need help?!"

Sena coughed, but managed a weak smile. "No, I'm fine." He picked himself off the ground and brushed off his coat. "Are you?"

The girl blushed, realizing that this guy might have saved her life. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine. Di-Did you save me?"

"Y-Yeah," he replied, a little nervous, "I…I did, yeah."

"Thank you."

The two of them stood there, not exactly sure of what to say to each other. After all, what exactly do you do in this situation? "Okay, think, Sena, THINK! What would Wally West do?!"

"Um…I'm Sena. Sena Kobayakawa," he said as he extended his hand.

She shook his hand. "Suzu-" Before she could say her full name, however, a beeping from her phone startled her. "Suzu" looked down at the device, and gasped. "Holy cow! I'm late!" She put the phone back in her jacket before turning back to Sena. "I'm so sorry, I have to go!"

Sena was a little disappointed, but he calmly said, "Okay. And you're sure you're all right?"

She gave him the thumbs up sign, and told him, "I'm fine, really! Don't worry about it!"

"Heh, sorry."

"S'okay."

They stood there in an awkward silence, until Suzu lunged forward and kissed Sena on the lips. She backed away, and giggled a little, a nervous smile crossing her face. She quietly says, "Thank you, Sena." Then she rolled away on her skates.

For a split-second, Sena's mind went blank. "Was…Was I just kissed by a girl? On the lips?!" His mind returned to reality, and he turned and shouted to the quickly retreating girl, "Wait! What's your name?!"

She yelled back to him, "Suzuna!" before she turned back and skated away.

Sena touched his lips with his fingers, his mind returning to its frazzled state…BEEP-BEEP! It returned, that is, until another text message arrived.

"Im waiting…"

"Crap! She's gonna KILL me!" As he made a mad-dash sprint for the bookstore, however, he couldn't help but smile and think, "Totally worth it, though."

***

Sure enough, Mamori Anezaki delivered a harsh scolding to Sena upon his arrival. "Sena! Where were you?! You were supposed to meet me here fifteen minutes ago! I thought something bad must have happened! Oh my god, what happened to your face?!"

The boy felt his chin with his hand, and found blood on his hand. "Must have been from when I saved that Suzuna girl…" he bemused in his mind.

Mamori reached into her purse and fished out a handkerchief, which she used to wipe away the blood and dirt on Sena's face. "How did this happen?! Were you mugged!? Did someone mug you?!?"

He sheepishly waved his hands. "N-No, i-it's not like that, Mamori."

"Well, what happened?"

Sena related to his friend what happened on the way to the bookstore, right down to the minutest detail. When he finished, Mamori could only gape in awe; this was Sena? Sena Kobayakawa, who never found the courage to stand up for anything in his life, Sena?

"He's grown up so much," she thought to herself, "Saving someone's life and getting his first kiss? And all in one morning?"

"…Mamori?"

When her friend called her name, she snapped out of her trance, and asked, "You're okay? Nothing besides the scratches on your face?"

"N-No! That's all."

The auburn-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief, and ruffled Sena's hair. It's a habit she has; whenever she is feeling proud of Sena, she will mess with him in some way or another. "Come on; let's go get your books."

Mamori Anezaki had been by Sena's side ever since they were in diapers, and she's been protecting him from danger for about that long. Despite the fact that Sena has gotten taller recently, he is still fairly cowardly and tends to run from his problems. This made for a perfect system: Sena would get into trouble, and Mamori would save him. When he was picked on, Mamori would be there; when he would be forced to do the bidding of bullies, she would be right there to save him. It had been that way for nineteen years, and that wasn't going to change anytime soon, it seemed.

When they were browsing through the various aisles, Mamori told Sena, "Now, I want us to get done here as soon as possible, Sena. I have an important lab meeting for my Science Club!"

"Ah, you're still doing that?"

She smiles and nods her head. "Yup! Right now, we're working on this particle accelerator; it's coming along nicely, though there are some things that we need to talk about."

"Okay."

"Would you like me to go into detail?"

"No, no that's quite all right." Sena and science mixed like water and oil; that is to say, not in the slightest.

Mamori brushed a lock of her auburn hair away from her face. "You'd like our president, Manabu Yukimitsu. He's…he's kind of like you, Sena! I mean, there's not a bad bone in his body, and he's really cool, calm, and collected!"

"This isn't," Sena said with a sigh, "about making me meet new people, is it?"

His friend scoffed. "Sena, you can't just hang out with Monta and me for the rest of your life! Occasionally, you will have to talk to some new people!"

When he tried to respond, Mamori interrupted. "And this Suzuna girl you saved this morning doesn't count!"

"Fine, fine. If you want me to go, I'll go. But I'm not happy about it!"

***

_At the lab, twenty minutes later…_

Sena sat on the edge of his seat, his eyes wide as dinner plates, as he paid rapt attention to what Manabu Yukimitsu was explaining.

Yukimitsu was a graduate student at the university, although he was only a year older than Sena; he was just that smart. His black hair was neatly combed so that it covered his slight bald spot on his forehead. He was rather tall, perhaps six feet or so, and his limbs were awfully gangly. With pale skin liken to snow, it was easy to make the assumption that he never left the lab. He spoke with a kind voice, and had some confidence, though he seemed tired.

"Now, I know this won't exactly make me a popular guy, but I have to ask if some of you guys can work night shifts this week." His request was met with groans. "C'mon, guys, we're on the verge of making history with this; however, if we don't meet the deadline, it will all have been for nothing!" Still, there was some dissent in the room.

Mamori stood up from her chair. "I'll stay after hours this week to work on it, Yuki-san!"

"Thanks, Mamori," he replied with a warm smile, "Is there anyone else?"

No one else wanted to volunteer; in fact, Mamori probably made things worse. One student could be heard mumbling "What a brown-no-" before being interrupted by a gun going off.

"Who's the dead man that said it?" growled a low voice from the back of the room. "Ke-ke-ke…come on! Who said it?" A tall, limber man stood from his seat and searched the room for the student who had insulted Mamori. He had a tan complexion, and golden hair that stuck up like some cosplayer. What was bizarre was his outfit: white, leather pants, white cowboy boots, and a white, fuzzy jacket; the whole ensemble screamed money, like this man was rolling in it.

Yukimitsu began to sweat nervously. "Hiruma, this isn't necessary…"

"Fuck you, fucking baldy. The only one who gets to insult the fucking manager is me!"

Mamori shot out of her chair. "Hiruma, how dare you! You shouldn't talk that way to Yuki!"

The blonde demon fixed his gaze on her and he deviated from his original path. He slowly made his way over to Mamori until he was mere inches from her face. "And what are you going to do about it, fucking manager?"

"I'll…I'll…" Mamori racked her brain for a rebuttal. "I'll make sure that you won't be able to get into the lab! How about that?" Strangely, this did not affect Hiruma. He merely laughed off the threat.

"KEKEKEKE! Yeah right! And who'll replace me in my shifts? These fucking morons?" When he said this, a few boys got out of their seats, but sat back down when Hiruma pointed a sawed-off shotgun in their faces. "Stay out of this, you goddamn losers; you're out of your element!"

Yukimitsu decided now would be a good time to intervene. "Hiruma, put the firearm away! You KNOW that I do not allow your guns in this room!"

"I'll do what I damn well please!"

"Hiruma, stop!"

He almost replied, but he was interrupted by the feeling that there was something missing from his hand. Hiruma looked down to find that his shotgun was gone, and was currently being held by a young man with messy, brown hair. "Holy shit!" he thought to himself, "I didn't notice that at all!"

A wicked thought came to his mind, and he grinned wickedly as he set his plan into motion. The blonde demon said to Sena, "That's pretty good, fucking punk." He then reached into his jacket and withdrew a handgun. "Unfortunately for you, I always pack extra." Hiruma turned back to face Mamori.

"So, fucking manager," he smiled with fang-like teeth, "Where were we?"

Mamori gave him a look that would have boiled water. "We were talking about your expulsion from the Science Club. Leave. NOW." She pointed a finger at the door to emphasize her point.

The grin did not leave Hiruma's face as he walked out the door, handgun tucked away within the confines of his jacket. As he walked down the hall, his cackling laughter could be heard by everyone on the second floor of the Science Department.

Once he was gone from the building, Mamori brushed away a lock of hair that had fallen into her face. She strode over to Sena and swiped the shotgun he awkwardly held in his hands. Deftly, she opened the gun and withdrew the shells inside, making it effectively useless now. The manager safely stowed the bullets within her coat pocket, and then handed the gun to Yukimitsu, who sighed and placed the gun into a large box that said "HIRUMA'S CONFISCATED WEAPONS" and contained all sorts of military-grade weapons. Sena was sure that he had even seen a few of them in pictures from his history books.

After the gun had been disposed of, Sena suddenly felt very shaky and anxious. What had he just done? Had he actually saved someone's life by taking a gun away from a bad guy? A thrill of excitement ran up and down Sena's spine, but he also felt every nerve in his body quake with fear. Just now, he had put himself in harm's way; his life had been thrown on the line. "I was…a hero."

"Sena? Sena, are you okay?"

The bushy-haired boy shook himself from his thoughts. Mamori was trying to wake him up by gently shaking his shoulders. When he came to, the older girl gave a sigh of relief and said, "Thought you were spacing out for a second." Then, she placed a hand on his shoulder. "Why don't you go home now, Sena? Get some rest. You look all shaken up."

"I-I-Is that Hiruma g-guy always l-l-like that?" he asked as he made his way to the door.

"As long as we've known him," Mamori said with a scowl on her face. "Best not to pay attention to him."

"O-O-O-Okay, Mamori; whatever you say." Before he left, he thanked Yukimitsu for letting him sit in on the meeting. The balding boy smiled and said it was a pleasure meeting Sena, and he hoped to see him at future meetings. This was met with laughter, although Sena knew he definitely did NOT want to come again. Not if that Hiruma guy was going to be there…

***

When he walked outside, Sena took a breath of cold winter air to calm his nerves. Mamori was right: all he needed was a nap, maybe some tea and a comic book. Before he could begin to plan out his afternoon's events, however, an arm wrapped around his torso, pinning his arms to his sides, while a gloved hand covered his mouth with a white handkerchief. Sena could feel himself trying to scream, but no sound came forth. He could only feel himself being dragged somewhere, his destination unknown yet terrifying to him.

The hand released him, and Sena stumbled away screaming, "I don't have any money on me! There's nothing on me, NOTHING! DON'T KILL ME!"

"Ke-ke-ke," a wicked voice cackled from underneath a white hood, "I'm not going to kill you, fucking bush-head." The abductor yanked his hood off, revealing Yoichi Hiruma underneath. A vicious grin was spread from ear to ear, and his eyes were lit in sadistic humor.

"Wh-What do you w-w-want?"

"I need your help getting into the science lab."

"Wh-Why?"

Hiruma grimaced and said, "Those fucking idiots don't know what they're doing; if they try working on that thing, it could blow them up! So I need you to steal the fucking manager's I.D. card and bring it here, at midnight. If you don't," he withdrew his handgun again, "I will fucking hunt you down and blow your fucking brains out. Got it?" Sena nodded feverishly, preferring to keep his brains inside his skull and in one piece.

"Good," Hiruma smirked as he put the gun away, "Very good. Now, meet me here, outside the building at midnight, or I will show you why the punks on this campus call me 'Mr. Saturday Night Special'."

Sena dashed out of the janitor's closet he was in and sped off to Mamori's apartment, his heartbeat running like a machine gun. Would he do it? Would he actually steal from Mamori?? And who knew what Hiruma was actually going to do with the particle accelerator???

***

Sneaking out of the apartment had been easy enough: Sena had told Mamori that he was going to a concert with Monta; he had said that he would be back around 1 in the morning, maybe 2. His roommate had been a little apprehensive about this, but she knew that Sena was basically a man now, and he should be able to do what he wanted. He had pilfered her I.D. card from her wallet shortly before he left the apartment. She wouldn't need it for the rest of the evening, right?

Sena was standing out in the freezing cold, wrapped in a red jacket, with black jeans on underneath. A black snowcap with a red band on it was placed on top of his head, and he wore black gloves to keep his hands from going numb. He wore snow boots as well, and Mamori had insisted that he at least where some thick, wool socks. In spite of all his layers, Sena was chilled to the core, and shivering with every step he took; whether this was from the job he was about to undergo or the frigid air was unknown to him.

"I don't want to be doing this," he kept telling himself. "I would much rather be back at the apartment, curled up on the couch with a hot chocolate and the new Blue Beetle. I would rather go with Monta to a karaoke bar somewhere and listen to his crappy rendition of "Don't Stop Believin'!" or Komusubi's god-awful, "Mr. Brightside"." His sullen gaze turned to the starry sky above. "I would rather like to see Suzuna again," he said, his thoughts drifting to that girl with the roller skates.

"God, I should have asked for her number or email or something!" Sena had to stop and swat himself in the head, partly to berate himself, partly to regain feeling in his hands. "I'm such a coward, though. She'd never want to go out with a guy like me…" Despite these sad thoughts, Sena trudged on to the movie theater, where he was going to spend the evening until midnight.

"Hope whatever's playing is good!"

***

Four hours later, Sena walked out of the campus theater having sat through two showings of _The Wall_, which Mamori had recommended. "That was messed up," Sena thought to himself. He checked his watch: 11:55.

"Crap! I'm gonna be late!" He sprinted off in the direction of the Science Department building, hoping against all hope that he made it in time. The thought of what Hiruma would do to him was so terrifying that Sena pushed as hard as possible with his legs.

Standing outside in his outlandish outfit from earlier, Hiruma tapped his foot upon the ground rapidly, eagerly awaiting the arrival of his newest victim. When he caught sight of a young man in a red coat racing towards him, the blonde demon pulled a machine gun out of his jacket and proceeded to fire at Sena, barely missing him.

When Sena finally stopped running, he was at Hiruma's feet, the machine gun pointed right at his head. "You're late," he cackled wickedly. "Now, get up and use the fucking card so we can get in the fucking building."

Sena rose shakily and wobbled over to the doors to the building. He looked at a small box that was mounted to the left, and deduces that that was where he scanned the I.D. card. With a swipe of the card, the box beeped and the sound of the doors unlocking could be heard.

"W-W-Well, my j-j-job is done here, I'll b-be heading back no-"

Before Sena could run off to safety, Hiruma grabbed him by the collar and held him in place. "This guy's got monster strength!" Sena thought to himself, "I'm only a little shorter than him, but he's not moving an inch!"

"Your job isn't over yet, fucking bush-head." Hiruma dragged him into the lobby of the building and proceeded to let go of him. To make sure Sena staid, however, he pulled a handgun from his jacket and jabbed Sena in the back with it. "I also need you to open the door for me into the lab."

"And then I'll be done?"

"Yes, you'll be done then."

When Hiruma promised him his freedom, Sena breathed a sigh of relief, and felt a little better about his current predicament. With a push from behind, Hiruma led him to the lab, where Sena used the I.D. card again. Once inside, his captor shut the door and locked it, to make sure that no one could come in. The room was pitch-black, but Hiruma had a flashlight stored safely within his jacket. He turned it on and illuminated the corner of the room where the particle accelerator was located.

The machine itself was cylindrical in shape and had several grooves in its silver shell. Beneath the first layer was a smooth, blue canister, its containments a mystery to Sena. Supposedly, this thing was supposed to be able to create unlimited energy, but right now, there were several bugs in the system, which Hiruma was going to remove.

Hiruma cocked the handgun and pointed it at Sena's head one last time. "Make one move for that door," he scowled, "Your brains will be coating the fucking walls." Once Sena was planted firmly onto a metal stool in the room, Hiruma wandered over to the particle accelerator to get down to work.

While the demon was working, Sena was fiddling with his fingers and musing over the day, wondering how he had possibly gotten to this point. This shouldn't be happening to him. "I'm just a nobody," he sullenly thought, "A nobody with nothing better to do than be forced to work for Satan, it seems. I just woke up this morning, read a comic, saved a girl's life, shopped for my textbooks and went to a meeting with Mamori. Why is this stuff happening to me?"

Ten minutes passed in silence until Hiruma called over to Sena. "Oy, fucking bush-head, get over here!" Sena quickly worked his way over to the machine, using the light from Hiruma's flashlight as a means to avoid the various obstructions in the room. As he grew closer to the particle accelerator, the machine began to quake and tremble violently.

Hiruma's face contorted into shock, and he shouted, "NO! STAY BACK!" but it was too late. Sena crossed in front of the accelerator has it exploded, bathing him in a strange green light. Every molecule in his body screamed in agony for a split second, and then it vanished. He felt like he should run. Yes, running would be a good idea.

In the blink of an eye, he was outside, on the sidewalk, alone in the new-fallen snow. Sena realized that Hiruma was no longer around, so he took advantage of the disappearance of his captor and sped off for Mamori's apartment. He arrived there not a second later. "H-How did I do that?!" Sena wondered as he examined his hands and feet. "What have I become?"

***

Back at the lab, Hiruma has pulled out his cellphone, his devilish smile plastered across his face. He scrolled through his phone numbers until he came upon the number he was looking for. Hiruma growled when the other end was not picked up, but he left a message.

"Fucking fat-ass, I've got our speedster. Meet me at the headquarters tomorrow morning, 10:00 AM." He shut his phone with a CLICK! Hiruma looked out through the windows at the city, and he started laughing again. "Sena Kobayakawa, huh? Welcome to the Action Squad! YA-HAAAAAAAA!"

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


	2. Chapter 2: The Modern Hero

**Eiyuu**

By The Mauve Lantern

**Chapter 2: The Modern Hero**

"_Dear, I think that we're lost!"_

"_Keiko, relax! I know exactly where I'm going!"_

_Adam Yamamoto and his wife Keiko were out for a picnic in the countryside, and now that the sun had sunk beyond the horizon, they were heading back to their apartment in the city of Deimon. Adam was a man of large stature, and always promises that he will protect his wife from whatever may come. The two of them were not prepared for what was to come that black night when they took a wrong turn and wound up going down a deserted road…_

_The darkness of the evening had somehow infected the forest like a disease, and helped to transform it into an ominous, foreboding vision of death and despair. Keiko shivered and wrapped her husband's jacket around her slim figure as he drove the car down the road, nary a thought crossing his mind. "Adam, can you turn down the air conditioning? It's freezing in here!"_

"_What're you talking about, babe? The air conditioning is off!" Adam suddenly felt the cold that his wife was talking about. "Now that you mention it," he mumbled, "I do feel a little cold!"_

"_Why is it so cold?!"_

"_That would be me, ke-ke-ke-ke!"_

_The couple turned around in their car and saw that there was someone riding in the back seat. It was a large figure, large enough that its back was bent to allow it to ride in the car, and its face was an ashen-gray, with white, gleaming fangs bursting out from underneath. Black, spiky hair burst from its head, and two glowing eyes beamed at Keiko as the demon licked its dark-blue lips in hunger. _

"_KYYYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Keiko screamed in terror as the demon in the back of the car laughed maniacally. _

"_Sorry, doll-face, but your screams won't do you much good out here," the demon chuckled as it raised a clawed hand. "Which means if I call ya and eat ya, no one'll find out!"_

"_I sincerely doubt that, demon!"_

_There was now another rider in the car, and this one was even more fearsome-looking than the other. His hair was spiky and blonde, and he wore a mask that covered half of his face, leaving his dark, menacing eyes exposed. The mask itself was like a demon's mouth that ran around to cover the side of his head, along with wings that burst out from the sides. As for the rest of the man's body, it was cloaked in a billowing cape that covered his body entirely. He cackled wickedly and then grabbed the demon and threw it out of the car._

_When the black demon crashed, it growled. "Who are you that you throw ME!?"_

"_Kekekeke, I am the Akumetsu, slayer of demons!" He pulled a massive handgun from the confines of his cloak and fired six shots from the gun, blowing three holes into the monster's body. It collapsed to the ground, all three holes in its head._

_Adam stopped the car and ran out, alongside Keiko, and he asked Akumetsu, "Are you okay?!"_

_The hellish man leered at Adam and cackled. "You have been saved, now all I ask is one small thing!"_

"_Name it, it's yours!"_

"_Give me your car," the man said with a smirk._

"_What?! Th-the car?!"_

"_Yes. Or I can leave now and let that demon come back…"_

"_Wait! You…you can have the car…"_

"_Excellent!"_

_Thus, the demon slayer, Akumetsu, retreated into the night, leaving Adam and Keiko to walk back to the city. The hell-spawned man was not without a heart, as he left the two with directions to a nearby hotel and a talisman that would ward off other monsters. So, another mission accomplished, Akumetsu sets out again to battle the children of the night once more!_

_***_

"AHHHHHH!"

A young freshman shoots up from his bed screaming, his body covered in a cold sweat. The boy takes a trembling hand and pushes it through his messy, brown hair as he curls his knees up close to his chest. Tonight, for some reason, he feels restless and unable to go to sleep; visions of lightning bolts, demons, and indigo-haired girls on roller skates dance through his head, causing him to wake up every time he falls into slumber. Sena wipes the sweat from his forehead and groans. "Why can't I sleep at all?" he asks, though there is no one to answer him. "Is this because of what happened in the lab earlier?"

Earlier that evening, Sena Kobayakawa, a rising freshman at Deimon University, had been forced by an upperclassman, Yoichi Hiruma, to break into the science lab, so that the older student might make some repairs to a particle accelerator the Science Team had been working on. In the process, however, Sena had been bombarded by a beam of light that seemed to engulf every molecule of his body in pain. While in pain, the freshman burst out of the room and fled to the sanctity of his friend Mamori's apartment; the run back had somehow taken mere seconds, though Sena did not notice. When he entered the apartment, his roommate had wondered if he was all right and why he was shaking, but he had told Mamori that he was fine, just really tired. Now, here he was, unable to sleep and twitching slightly.

"A shower might help me calm down," he says as he crawls out of the bed. Sena maneuvers around the dark apartment over to the bathroom, his tan arms wrapped around his scrawny body to keep warm. For some reason, the apartment had been lacking heat since earlier in the week; of course, Sena only knew this from Mamori, who had heard it from a grizzled maintenance man.

Considering the fact that he is only clad in a pair of thin, cotton pajamas, the young freshman begins to rub his arms furiously in an attempt to generate warmth and heat from the friction. Before a second has passed, his arms feel extremely hot, to the point that Sena pulls his hands away before they can be burned. "What the heck?!" he shouts in his head as he looks at his palms, glowing red from the intense heat, "Did…did I do that?" He puts the question aside in his mind, and decides to ponder over it in the hot shower.

Sena nimbly tip-toes into the bathroom and prepares a shower for himself. When he turns the faucet on, the water comes out extremely slowly; so slow, in fact, that the boy can grab it from out of the air with no effort at all. He blinks, and suddenly, the water returns to normal. "That does it," he says as he holds the drop of water in his palm. "I'm calling that Hiruma guy and asking him what's going on!"

The hot water falls about his body as he steps into the shower, and he lets the rejuvenating liquid coat his body before dripping down into the drain, spiraling down into the pipes below. Sena's brown hair becomes soaked and clings onto his forehead. He can feel every inch of his body cooling down and releasing pent-up tension and heat from every inch of his skin. Why was this happening to him? Why was he, a normal, mediocre, insignificant freshman having to suffer through this…change? All he wanted was to graduate, get a decent job, get married and have kids; that was all, and he sought nothing further in life.

"Why," he bemoaned, "why me? When did this start? Was it when I saved that girl this morning? Was it when I met that guy Hiruma? It probably was Hiruma's fault. That evil monster…the next time I see him, I'll kick his ass. No I won't, 'cause I don't have the guts. I'm spineless. I couldn't even ask that girl her name this morning until she was almost a block away." Sena turned his face to the water and let it wash over his face, his inner monologue finishing.

***

Meanwhile, as Sena scrubs away the sweat turmoil from his body, a certain blonde-haired demon is typing away furiously on a keyboard. The keyboard is connected to a large computer monitor, which is only one screen amongst the myriad of screens that fill Yoichi Hiruma's apartment. The wall of screens, comprised of televisions, shows flickering images of the streets of Deimon City, as well as the outer limits of the town, in high quality; from these screens, Yoichi is able to keep an eye over his city. Yes, it is his city, and he is the sole guardian. He is the Slayer of Evil, the Akumetsu of Deimon.

On the screen where the blonde boy is working is an image of Sena Kobayakawa, along with data such as his birthday, height, weight, etc. As he types, Hiruma speaks into a microphone in front of him. "Subject 021, Sena Kobayakawa," he says, an evil grin spread on his face, "showed signs of a positive reaction to exposure to the particle accelerator, and seemed to have gained super-speed from the bombardment of energy. Will examine closely tomorrow for any disturbances in the Speed Force." His long fingers finish clicking against the keys, and Hiruma turns off the microphone as he pops a piece of gum into his mouth. The blonde demon gets out of his chair and strides over to the large window in his apartment that allows him to overlook the city below.

As he gazes down at the rooftops, the phone in his pocket rings incessantly. He picks it up right before the ring ends, and says, "What the fuck do you want, old man?"

"I wanted to know," a gruff voice replies, "If you had actually gone through with this."

"Of course I fucking did. I've only been planning this for the past five years, y'know."

"God damn it. You did it. You fried someone with that particle accelerator."

"Hell yes, and now we've got our own little speedster for the squad."

"You've ruined this person's life."

"When has that ever stopped me before?"

"You got me there." The voice on the other end of the phone stops and sighs. "This doesn't mean that I'm coming back, of course."

"Of course, you fucker. You'll come at your own fucking time."

The man with the gruff voice laughs. "Good night, you evil devil."

"Good night, fucking old man."

He presses the 'Cancel' button on the phone, and then dials a different number on the phone. The phone rings once or twice until a groggy voice asks, "What…what is it, Hiruma? I'm tired…"

"Get up, you fucking fat-ass. I found a new cape for us to have!"

"A…a new cape?!"

"Meet me at the football field at 8 AM, fat-ass."

"Will do, Hiruma!" The phone hangs up on the other end, and Hiruma puts his own phone back into his pocket. A malicious grin crosses his face, and he begins to laugh hysterically. Soon, all the cards will fall into place, and his plan, which has been years in the making, will come to fruition.

***

The next morning greeted Sena in a most peculiar fashion. He woke up at 7:00 AM with his alarm going off next to his head, which further disturbed the boy even more than his lack of sleep. When he raised his tired head from his pillow, Sena rubbed his eyes in an effort to wipe away the endless night from his mind.

He did not notice the cloaked figure that was perched outside his window, nor did he notice the gun that was trained on him.

Sena had gotten out of his bed and walked over to his dresser. He pulled a white t-shirt from the top-most drawer and slid it onto his body. Next came a pair of gray sweatpants, and then a sweatshirt that read, in kanji, "Deimon University", which was just a little too big for him.

"Okay," he said as he tied the laces on his sneakers, "today, I'm going to go figure out where my classes are, and then I'm gonna find Hiruma and give him a piece of my mind!" Sena shivered and changed his mind; he'll politely ask Hiruma not to kill him, and then ask what was wrong with his body.

As he gazed in the mirror, wondering if he needed a shave even though he had no facial hair yet, he did not notice the shadow that was on the ceiling. The last thing he remembered before falling asleep was seeing a man in a devil mask with a dart gun in his hands.

***

When he came too, Sena found himself in a dark room. There was no light, save for the one that shone down on him from above. He could hear the constant beep of a machine and the hum of a computer, but that was all. His eyes were readjusting to the light when he heard the voice talk to him. It was crackly, like someone with a dry throat.

"Kekekekeke…Well, looks like Sleeping-fucking-Beauty decided to wake up! Welcome to the land of the living!"

"Wh-Wh-Where am I?" Sena whimpered.

"You're--"

The voice stopped talking and was replaced by fitful coughing. The noise was almost painful to hear, it was so bad. When the hacking stopped, the voice shouted, "Where's that fucking fat-ass with my water?!"

"Here ya go, Akumetsu!" The new voice that entered the room came from behind Sena, and he strained his head to turn around, but he found that he was bound by thick ropes that were wrapped around his body and tied to the chair. He does not need to turn his head, as the man that joined them walked by him just then.

This man was very…large. He was large and rotund and basically round. He was big, and he seemed to be almost one big ball of fat. In spite of his massive girth, Sena felt an immense power being exuded from the man's body. The large man was wearing a helmet that completely covered his head and was red in hue. The rest of his body was contained in a black suit of armor that had red boots and gloves. In one of his hands was a large bottle of water; the bottle was made of glass.

The fat man disappeared into the shadows, and then there was screaming. "You fucking fatty! I wanted regular water, not this carbonated shit! Goddamn, can't you keep a single thing in that thick fucking head of yours?!" There was a sound like glass being shattered across something hard.

"Che," the voice hissed in frustration, "you made me lose my concentration. Where was I?" There was the sound of snapping fingers. "Right, I remember! You're in the Devil's Lair, Tartarus, home to the one, the only hero AKUMETSU!!!"

Dozens of lights burst on in the room, revealing the man who had been talking to Sena this whole time: it was Yoichi Hiruma, clad in a black costume that had a long flowing cape attached to it. The man in armor was standing beside him, and the two were facing Sena. Hiruma was looking extremely sadistic and quite vampiric, while his companion was clearly uncomfortable, as he was fidgeting in his spot.

With the lights on, Sena could now see that there were dozens of computers, TV screens and other sorts of contraptions that he could not identify. The screens were showing, what he realized after a few seconds, Deimon University and all the students that were wandering about.

He blinked a few times before asking, "Why…why did you bring me here?"

"You're special," the devil replied. "You survived the test last night!"

"Test?"

"When you were hit by the beam of light from the particle accelerator. I knew, from the moment I saw the fucking brunette drag you in, that you would be perfect for the experiment."

"Y-You mean…that was just an experiment?! I was your GUINEA PIG?!?"

"Listen, shrimp, let's just call it water over the dam and start over anew, hmm?"

Sena did not hear the last part of Hiruma's sentence because the blood was pumping furiously in his head. Never had he ever wanted to hurt someone as much as he wanted to hurt Yoichi Hiruma, living proof that there was a Satan. Without thinking, the freshman vibrated out of his bonds and charged at the smirking devil. He picked him up by the collar of his black jacket and charged him into the metal wall of the underground base.

"You evil son of a BITCH! What have you done to me?!?" Ordinarily, Sena did not use foul language, but he felt no need to restrain himself in this case.

Hiruma giggled like a madman and said, "Never hit someone's head if you want to ask them a question; it makes their head all fuzzy…"

WHAM! Sena threw the devilish man against the floor and began to punch him at a rapid speed. "What did I do to deserve this?! Why ME?!?"

"If you'll stop for a moment," the large man said, "I think I'll be able to explain it better than Akumetsu." He walked over to Sena and pulled the smaller boy off of Hiruma's body. Sena refused to let go of Hiruma, but the man was incredibly strong, ripping Sena off and holding him firmly against his immense body. He asked, "Will you please calm down for a moment? I'd be happy to explain if you would relax a little." The smaller boy sighed in defeat and nodded. When the man took him away, Sena cast one last look at Hiruma; surprisingly, even after being beaten by the super-fast boy, the blonde demon was still grinning.

The man led Sena to one of the computers and typed in "Devilbats21" on the keyboard. A blue screen popped up and the large man took off his helmet. "I hope you don't mind," he said, "it helps me to see better if I take the helmet off." Underneath his helmet, the man had a soft face, like that of a young boy's, and Sena realized that he must be student at Deimon University. The man's hair was dark brown, and it was shaped into a spike, making his incredibly round head resemble a water chestnut.

"See, Sena, we live in a world that holds many secrets. The greatest secret is that of the existence of super-humans, or people with special abilities. There are, quite literally, thousands of these people out there, and Akumetsu and I are just two of them; now, you are too!"

The word 'super-human' buzzed in Sena's ears. So it was true; he really DID have superpowers now. "Why did you guys pick me?"

"Akumetsu said that he felt something about you. What was it you said he had, Akumetsu?"

"Potential, ya fat-ass!"

"Right, that! See, Sena, the world needs more good guys, like you and me. Oh, and Akumetsu too! So what do you say? Will you work with us?"

Sena looked down at his shoes. Out of the blue, these complete strangers were asking him to be a superhero? After using him as a test subject for an experiment?!

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, "I can't do this. For me…for someone who's never been anything special in his life…to suddenly be asked to save the world is just insane."

The large man pouted. "I understand. If…if you want to…" He stopped himself. "The exit is down that hallway, the third door on your left."

Sena nodded and vanished in a bolt of light. He was gone.

"Do you think," the large man asked Hiruma, "that you went over the line?"

"Of course, moron. But we have bigger problems than some twerp worrying about his fucking problems! The world is going to be destroyed in a year if we aren't ready!"

***

It was a bright day for winter, and Suzuna Taki was out skating on her new rollerblades that she had gotten for Christmas. They were given to her by her brother: they were white, with navy-colored smiley faces on the sides and lavender wheels. It was the best Christmas gift. While she was skating, she had her eyes closed; she did not notice the quickly moving blur that was headed her way until it collided with her.

When Sena had seen Suzuna coming, he had tried to stop himself before running into her, but he only managed to trip himself up and go flying face-first into her chest. He pushed himself off the ground and rubbed his head. "Ouch…that really hurt!" he thought to himself until he looked down and saw the skater girl that was filling his dreams last night was just inches away from him. He blushed heavily and pushed himself off of her body.

"Oh my God, I'm sososo sorry!" he said.

"It's…it's all right," she told him. She took a good look at the boy and then gasped. "Ohmygosh, you're that guy from yesterday! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, what about you? I'm the one who ran into you!"

"Don't worry about me; I'm a lot tougher than you think!" The two of them laughed and then they stopped and glanced at each other, crimson spread across their faces.

At the same time, they both asked, "Are you doing anything right now?" When they realized they had spoken simultaneously, they blushed again and looked away from each other.

Suzuna looked at Sena with a sparkle in her eyes. "Do you want to go hang out?" she asked.

A smile crossed the boy's face. "I'd love to!" he said. "I mean, I don't have anywhere else to go!"


	3. 3: Attack of the Unlucky Valentines Crew

**Chapter 3: Attack of the Unlucky Valentines Crew!**

_The city of Deimon: a bustling town with filled bustling people, bustling to and fro from their bus jobs. Imagine if, for one second, something were to go terribly wrong, if some uncontrollable force were to be unleashed into the busy city. Imagine if that force was a team of a dozen men armed with specially designed bows and arrows. The chaos that would ensue would be catastrophic…_

***

Sena Kobayakawa was walking on air. Not literally, though he might be able to considering that he had developed superpowers in the last twenty-four hours. He was actually in a coffee shop with a young woman by the name of Suzuna Taki, a girl he had saved just yesterday. The two of them had bumped into each other after Sena had gotten away from Yoichi Hiruma, a devilish upper-classman who was responsible for giving Sena super-speed. Even though he had decided not to be a part of Hiruma's ridiculous plan to be a superhero, he could not shake the idea from his mind.

_Could I be a superhero? Nah, I'd be a terrible hero. I'm weak; I've got no backbone when it comes to violence. Besides, it's not like there are actual supervillains. There are just robbers and murderers, no Lex Luthor, no Black Mantis, and certainly no Professor Zoom._

"So then my brother says, "Sister of mine, I shall be heading to America to play American football! Do not worry, I will write you a postcard every day!" What he doesn't tell us is that he took a huge chunk of our parents' money to go! So now they have the police looking for him." Suzuna took a sip from her latte. "God only knows where he is right now. I just hope that he's in one piece, y'know?"

"I know what you mean. I've got this friend, Raimon, but, well, we call him Monta, who swears that he's going to be a big celebrity. He'll have money, power, and women. The only problem is that he has no idea how to handle his money, so he'll always spend it on these silly things. One time, he bought a ring for a girl he was going out with. It cost him every cent he had."

"What happened?"

"Well, the girl replied, "Sorry, I'm just not that into you.""

Suzuna and Sena started laughing uproariously. "Aha-ha-haha! Oh, oh man, that's…that's, heh, that's not supposed to be that funny, is it?"

"Hehehe! No, I suppose it, hehe, isn't."

The two first-years smiled at each other. They were having fun, more fun than they usually did with their own friends. At that moment, something just clicked between the two of them. This felt right.

"So, where do you want to go next?" asked Sena as they began to get up.

"Don't know. You wanna take a walk?" Suzuna picked up her skates from under the table and hoisted them onto her shoulders. She usually rode them everywhere, and abhorred walking, but she was willing to make an exception here. "The day is too beautiful to be cooped up in a movie theater."

"Sure. Let's go." They took their drinks with them and they headed out the door. As the two of them walked down the sidewalk, Sena felt Suzuna's hand wrap around his own, sending a warm feeling up his arm. They smiled all the way down the sidewalk, and they continued smiling all the way to the Deimon City Park. Yes, this felt very right to the pair.

***

Deep in the bowels of his lair, the hero Akumetsu perused his catalogue of meta-humans. So far, he had managed to locate all those in Deimon University, as well as those from the surrounding area. Now, all that was left was to locate those who showed incredible physical or mental prowess and set up a file for each and every one of them.

"Thank Satan I never have to sleep," he grumbled as he set up a file for a young man by the name of Sakaraba. Before he got very far into the catalogue, his partner waddled into the room. The Warrior had been feeling a little down ever since Sena Kobayakawa had left. He had honestly felt that this was a boy who would help them save the city, nay, the world.

"He'll come around, fat-ass."

"I forgot that you could read minds."

"It's not that. You've been asking me all afternoon whether or not that fucking bush-head would change his mind. Now, it's my answer for everything you say or do."

"Uh-huh, sure." The large man made his way into the kitchen that was built into the underground fortress. "I'm getting some lunch, do you want anything?"

"He'll come around, you fat-ass."

The Warrior sighed and removed his helmet. He placed it on the kitchen counter and pulled out some bread from the pantry. It looked like it was going to be one of those days where nothing happened, even though they had cameras monitoring the city to make sure there were no crimes going on. This was the solemn duty that they had taken on as middle school students: him, Hiruma, and-

"Get me some Coke while you're in there, fatty!"

"Sure thing, Hiruma!"As he set about making his sandwich and getting his friend's soda, Ryokan Kurita thought back to when he first learned about his own superpower.

He had been ten years old and playing on the playground all by himself. There were some older kids as well, but they did not pay attention to him very much. Kurita mostly stuck to himself, considering he outweighed them all by at least fifty pounds. Occasionally, one of them would call him a "fatty" or a "piggy", but this did not bother the little Kurita so much. He remained in his own world, a world where he was the mightiest superhero ever heard of.

"Hey, check it out, guys! It's our favorite little porker!"

The mean older students had arrived and were monopolizing the playground equipment. This meant that everybody would be removed, including Kurita, but the older boys had more fun when they made fun of Ryokan.

"Look at the little piggy, digging around in the sand."

"Whatsa matter, porky? You gonna cry?"

"Aw, the piggy's crying!"

Indeed, Kurita was crying when they mocked him, but he did not know why. He did not know why their words hurt so much more today. Maybe it was the last straw; maybe Kurita was just tired. He was not sure. All he knew was that he was crying, and that he was running at the boys.

"What do you think you're gonna do, you fat- OOPH!"

When Kurita barreled into the older boy, he ran right over the boy's body, crushing him into the ground. The older boy's friends ganged up on Kurita and tried to beat him up, but the chubby boy did not feel their blows. He fought back and punched and tackled his way out of the evil boys, and then he started running for home. At home, he devoured twice as much as he usually ate, forcing his father to go shopping for the two of them before supper.

After defeating those boys, his father had him transferred to a new school, where he would be better suited. He learned, in time, that the strength he had projected that day was from a change in his body. His body was developing in bizarre new ways, forcing Kurita to devour a huge quantity of food each and every time he used his immense super-strength. The endless eating never did help him become more popular, but at least he had help from Yoichi Hiruma, a fellow outcast of the school cliques. Well, not exactly an "outcast", per se; it was more like he controlled the cliques, and this left him alone at the top.

The two of them had been planning since middle school to become superheroes someday, and they would even meet other heroes and work alongside them in an effort to protect the planet from the forces of evil.

"Damn it, fatty! Where's my fucking Coke?!"

"Coming, Hiruma!"

Kurita quickly made his sandwich and returned to the monitor room with his lunch and Hiruma's beverage. The boy was staring intently at one of the screens, I-579. He took the drink from Kurita's hands and took a long swallow from it.

"Eat quickly," he said. "I think we've got trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" asked Kurita through a mouthful of sandwich.

"There's some trouble in near the Koigahama High School. We're looking at twelve or so gang members, every one of them armed with bows and arrows. Get suited up and get ready for action!"

***

Around that time, Sena and Suzuna were walking through the park hand-in-hand. They had spent the past hour or so walking around in circles around the ice-covered pond, but they did not care. They were happy doing just this.

"Hey Sena, wanna have a little bit of fun?" asked Suzuna.

"Sure!" he exclaimed.

Suzuna let go his hand and took her skates down from over her shoulders. "Okay, see this button on the side? Watch what happens when I push it!" She pushed the small violet button on the side of each skate, and the wheels flipped into the shoe; a blade replaced each of them a second later. "See? They double as ice skates!"

"That's so cool!" The gears in Sena's mind began turning, and he realized just what she was planning. "Oh no, we can't go onto the ice!"

"C'mon! Where's your sense of adventure?"

"In bed with my sense of breaking the law!"

"We're not breaking a law, just…bending it!" She tugged him by the wrist and led him down to the shore of the pond. "Come on, there are other people skating around down there!"

Sena looked around and, yes, there were people down on the ice. Some were kids having fun, some were couples enjoying a good time. No one seemed to be falling into the ice, so he relented. "All right, but I don't have any skates with me," he said as his knees twitched nervously.

"That's okay," exclaimed Suzuna as she pulled him onto the ice, "it's easy! You just have to maintain your balance!" She stood perfectly on the ice, while Sena was immediately slipping. Suzuna reached out and gently took his hands. "Here, let me show you the way to go. Hold on and bend your knees."

Slowly but surely, Sena got the hang of sliding around on just his shoes. Maybe it was because he was holding Suzuna's hands, or maybe it was because his super-speed was doing something funky; he did not know or care to find out. Things were perfect just the way they were. Unfortunately, Sena slipped and fell onto the snowy shore of the pond. Since he was holding onto Suzuna, she went falling with him, and they landed in the awkward position of her lying on top of him.

Suzuna giggled, even though she was blushing. "I think you did that on purpose!" Despite being in such an awkward position in such a public place, she was not making any move to get up.

"I-I did not!" Sena smiled and wanted to look away, to move, but could not tear himself from her eyes. He noticed that the distance between them was growing less and less until…impact. The two shared a sweet and tender kiss there in the snow. It was perfect. They did not notice the shadowy figures that were moving toward them at a fast pace, and it was not until Suzuna was wrenched away from Sena that they realized what was going on.

A troop of men were running through the snowy park knocking people away left and right. Each of them was dressed in a black bodysuit that covered every inch of skin on their bodies, save the area from the nose upward. After that, they wore mirrored lenses over each eye and a hood over the top of their heads. All the men had golden bows hooked to the back of their suits, and they all had a quiver of arrows on their backs as well.

The leader of the pack, a man with long, brown hair that fell out from under the hood, was the one who grabbed Suzuna. He shouted, "Okay, guys, we got our hostage! Let's get to the bank and make this town remember the name "Unlucky Valentines Crew"!"

"Right!"

Just like that, they were gone, leaving Sena in the snow. He was frozen in fear for a moment and then he growled in fury. How could this have happened? How could he have let this happen?

_I should have been able to stop them. I'm fast enough to take them all out in the blink of an eye! When I was watching them, they were practically like statues! What do I do? What do I do? _

_Hiruma and that big guy! They're the only ones I know who could help me with those guys! I just hope they already know what's going on…_

***

Out on the soccer field of Koigahama High School the dynamic duo of Akumetsu and The Warrior stood amidst a sea of fallen criminals and hooligans. Several of them were wearing hoods and masks on their faces, but Akumetsu could tell who they were right away. Almost all of them were high school students who attended the school, and they were almost all fourth years.

Akumetsu lifted one off the ground and held him by the collar. The shadow-clad demon rammed the gang member against a tree. "Where's the boss?" he growled. "I'm not in the mood for small fry like you!"

"Th-The b-b-boss ain't here!" the student shouted. "He's w-w-with th-the main g-g-gang!"

"Damn," Akumetsu hissed, "there are more of them."

The Warrior looked down at his communicator, which was linked to Akumetsu's network, and saw a blinking message. BANK ROBBERY NEAR DEIMON BANK. SUSPECTS ARMED WITH SPECIALLY EQUIPPED BOWS AND ARROWS.

"Akumetsu!" he shouted, "this was a trap! Their real target is the bank!"

"Fuck!" Akumetsu ran over to The Warrior and grabbed his shoulder. "Come on! We've got to get there before he does anything stupid!"

"Who, Sena?"

"Yes. Read the rest of the message."

Kurita looked down at the small screen. It read: HOSTAGE HAS BEEN TAKEN. HOSTAGE IS A ONE SUZUNA TAKI. NOTABLE CONNECTIONS IN THE AREA: REBECCA TATSUHIKO; JUN WATAHARA; SENA KOBAYAKAWA…

"That's not good at all, is it?"

"Fuck, no. We need to get there before he does anything to reveal his identity to the world!"

The two heroes vanished into a puff of black smoke and soon appeared on the other side of town at the Deimon Bank. Sure enough, Sena Kobayakawa was right outside, trying to see past the large crowd gathered behind the police barricade. Akumetsu walked over to him, grabbed him, and teleported him to a spot with less people.

"What did you do that for?!" the bushy-haired boy shouted. "There's someone in there that needs my help!"

"And she'll get your help, kid." Akumetsu leaned in and whispered into the boy's ear, "Cerberus. That's the password that will get you into the Devil's Lair. Head to the room on the right at the end of the hall. Look in the glass case." The devilish man turned and headed back to the bank, leaving Sena to go and run back to the base.

The Warrior made a path through the crowd with his bulky body and asked, "So, is he really coming?"

"Yeah," replied Akumetsu, "he's finally come around, fatty."

A moment later, the two heroes were joined by a new face. Where once there was empty space now stood a tall man, trim and muscular, with the physique of a runner. The man was wearing a skin-tight costume: it was red with a black stripe down the center, with a crimson "21" in the center; his boots are a fiery red, and he was wearing red gloves with black undersides. On his head was a helmet that was patterned after his costume, and had stylized bat wings coming off the side. A green eyeshield obscured his face, though his mouth is let exposed, revealing a face that was filled with determination.

"Ke-ke-ke! Nice look, fucking runner!" Akumetsu cackled in glee.

"Are we ready to do this?" he asked in a very serious voice.

"We've got your back, Eyeshield 21," said The Warrior, who began cracking his joints.

"Then let it begin!" the super-fast hero shouted as he dashed into the bank, where the Unlucky Valentines Crew was set and ready for combat…

_TO BE CONTINUED…_


	4. Chapter 4: The Rescue Mission

**Chapter 4: The Rescue Mission**

_It's a picture-perfect day at the Koigahama Archery Club's practicing field. The sky is blue, the warm sun caresses the athletes in a warm embrace, and what few clouds that are in the sky dare not block the sun. A cool breeze sweeps across the field, throwing off most every arrow that flies toward a target. One archer after another misses their mark, and while most just blow it off, one takes the attack on his practice personally. Kaoru Hatsujo, the senior-most member of the team, is having trouble hitting the mark on the targets, and each time his shot is blown off mark, Kaoru's scowl worsens. The wind is unable to blow his hair all over the place, since he has it tied off behind his head, so it makes due by affecting his aim._

_He's not a particularly good-looking man, Kaoru: his face looks like it was lumped together with clay by some ecliptic artist, his eyes are a bit too large, and his body too bulky, like a body builder. Yet, despite this, he is still respected by his underclassmen for having slept with fifty percent of the female students at the school. Lately, however, he has been slowing down, dating a girl in his math class. For the first time, he feels love for a woman. He expresses his love on a daily business, but recently, his girlfriend has been cold and distant to him. She avoids him in the halls, she does not return his calls, nor does she ride home with him after school. It is almost like they aren't in a relationship at all._

_Kaoru's arrow whizzes through the air and strikes just an inch from the bull's-eye on the target. He shouts in fury and throws his bow to the ground. The club leader, Kenichi, keeps an eye on Kaoru, just to make sure that he won't do anything dangerous._

"_Kaoru, take it easy," says one of the club members. "You'll break the bow!"_

"_Piss off, you little worm!" howls Kaoru as he passes by the younger member._

"_Hey, Kaoru, chill out," the club leader tells him. Kaoru turns around and charges the leader. He slams the young man into the ground and starts punching him repeatedly. Each blow draws blood from the leader's face._

_Kaoru howls, "I'll kill you! I'll kill you to death!" as he beats Kenichi to a bloody pulp. It takes four of the other archers to pull Kaoru off the leader, and it takes three more just to restrain him._

_The leader spits blood past his lips. "Ka…Kaoru," he groans, "consider yourself…off the team." Two members help him past the fuming Kaoru and over to the school for medical attention. All the remaining members, the guys, let go of Kaoru and he pushes past all his friends and heads off the field. One of his friends, Lee, picks up Kaoru's bow and chases after him._

"_Kaoru!" he cries, "Kaoru! You forgot your bow!"_

"_What the hell do I care?" shouts Kaoru. "I can't fire a damn arrow today! I don't need it!" Still, when Lee catches up to Kaoru, the excommunicated member takes the bow from Lee's hands._

_Lee looks down in sadness. "Don't…don't do anything rash," he tells Kaoru._

_Kaoru's face lightens up. He smiles as he pats Lee on the shoulder. "Lee," he says, "don't worry about me. Today's just not a good day, that's all." With that, he turns and heads to his car in the parking lot. First, he is going to go to the locker room to change out of his uniform, and then he is going to drive into town and pick up some flowers for his girlfriend. Maybe they will help patch up the relationship that needs fixing._

_He is not going to make it into the car without shedding blood…_

***

"Everybody, down onto the ground!" shouts Black Cupid. He swings his crossbow around before him, threatening all the patrons of the bank. They all fall, almost in unison, to the white tile floor. With his hostage in his arms, Black Cupid makes his way through the bank, stepping over the hunched over hostages. The other members of the Unlucky Valentines Crew quickly run through the bank, their sights trained on every person inside. Two security guards appear from a back hallway, brandishing pistols, but Black Cupid holds his crossbow to the hostage's head and scowls.

"Shoot at my men, and I kill the girl," he says as he tightens his grip on the weapon in his hands. The police officers hesitantly drop their guns. A couple of Unluckies run over and smash the officers in the back of the head with their crossbows. Suzuna, trapped in Black Cupid's arms, struggles against him, hoping to break free. Try as she might, the man's arm won't budge.

She screams, "Let me go!"

Black Cupid presses his forearm against the girl's neck, causing her to start gagging. The archer leans his head down and hisses into her ear, "You're not getting out of here alive, got it? We're gonna rob this bank, and we're gonna kill everyone inside here, got it? So shut the hell up and quit squirming!" Suzuna's eyes well up with tears, fear building up inside her body.

_Does he mean it? Am I really going to die? What's going on???_

All these questions run through Suzuna's head, but there is just one that manages to escape past her lips. "Why are you doing this?" she asks through gasps of air.

"You wanna know why I'm doing this?" asks Kaoru venomously. "You wanna know why I'm the Black Cupid?"

"Well, I didn't ask that, but-"

"Shut up, I'm talkin' here! It all started about six months ago…"

***

_Frustrated, Kaoru stomps to the locker room to change out of his sweat-laden t-shirt and sweatpants. When he opens the swinging door, he slams it against the cement wall. He heads to his locker, where his change of clothes is waiting. There is no one in the room, but Kaoru can hear the sound of two people somewhere nearby, probably in the showers, becoming intimate with each other. As Kaoru changes out of his sports gear, the noise reminds him of how he and his girlfriend would lock lips while watching a movie at his home. It makes him feel frustrated and angry, so he goes to put a stop to it._

"_Hey," he shouts into the showers, "knock it off!"_

"_Fuck off!" a guy replies._

_Kaoru's eye twitches in indignation and he stomps over to the showers to give a piece of his mind to the two in there. When he reaches the room, he sees one stall is covered by a white curtain. A girl's feet and a guy's feet show from underneath the curtain. Clothes hang over the top of the stall._

"_There you are, ya little shit." Kaoru growls and rips the curtain away, but before he punches the man in the shower, he freezes. The girl in the shower is HIS girl. She looks at him with her wide eyes filled with shock. Her half-naked body is glistening with sweat, shivering with fear and anxiety. Her brown hair, damp, falls into her face, framing the look of terror about her. The guy she is with punches Kaoru in the jaw, throwing him back against the tile wall._

_The man shouts, "The hell was that for, you son of a bitch?! I was just about to get some!"_

_Kaoru rises from the ground shakily. He feels weak, sick almost. There is a nagging sensation in his chest. The sensation is like a muscle being torn apart inside of him, and it refuses to be ignored. He watches the guy and his girl collecting their clothes from the stall and the feeling only grows stronger as they move. When the guy starts walking away with his girl, Kaoru looks up at them. All he sees is red. Blood fills his eyes, his fingers start trembling. This is the way he feels when he is out there on the field, competing against the other archers. This is how he feels when he gets into fights at school. It's the feeling he gets when his good-for-nothing father talks to him. He wants to kill them. He _needs _to kill them. _

_He _WILL _kill them._

_Before they get very far, Kaoru lunges at the guy and smashes him into the ground. He grabs the man's head and smashes it into the tile floor. Blood mixes with water as the life fluid drains from the man's face. Kaoru does not stop there though. He picks the man up and throws him into the lockers. The girl screams, but Kaoru doesn't hear her; he only hears the blood pumping in his ears. His fists beat down against the man over and over. He breaks the man's nose, he fractures the jaw, he makes blood splatter all over his hands, his face, his clothes. The blood goes everywhere._

_Out from the corner of his eye, Kaoru sees his girlfriend. She is screaming and huddled up in the corner. Drenched in blood, caked in sweat, Kaoru gets off the man's body and slowly crosses over to the girl. He passes by his bow, lying against a locker, and he picks it up. Kaoru smiles at the girl, and she knows what's going to happen. He will kill her. Without remorse._

"_Shh," Kaoru whispers, "shh-shh, I'm not going to hurt you. Not like that guy, no, no, you're gonna be fine…"_

"_God, Kaoru, stay back!" she screams. She holds her hands up as a last effort to protect herself from him. He swats her hands away with his bow. Kaoru clicks his tongue in pity._

"_Tch…You've been a bad girl, y'know that? I called ya, I talked with ya, I did everything for ya, and this is how ya pay me back?" Kaoru leans in close to her. She can smell the blood on his chest, feel his excited breath blast against her. He slowly reaches down, grabs her by the shoulder, and lifts her off the ground._

_He hisses into her ear, "Better go call the police."_

_She runs towards the door, but doesn't make more than two feet before a string slips around her neck. The girl struggles against the string, trying to break free, but Kaoru knows what he is doing. With the bow looped over her neck and the bowstring draw taught against her neck, the girl has nowhere to run._

_Kaoru leans in and whispers, "Do you want to know how I shoot an arrow? It's real easy, like, so easy a little whore like your self could manage it. See, first you have to show the arrow that you are the one in power. You grip it firmly in your hands, like so. Then, when it knows you are in charge, you draw it against the string." He tightens his grip on the string. Blood begins to trickle from the girl's neck. "You want to hold the arrow firmly in place, so that it doesn't fall down or move up. You want it to go right…where…you…want it." The girl's face begins to lose its color. It is now a stream of blood that comes from her neck. "And, when you have it set on the course you want to go…when you're sure and the wind is blowing in your direction…that's when you let go."_

_The girl's body goes limp. There is no struggle, no fight left. Kaoru releases her from his grasp and releases the string from her throat. She falls to the ground. A pool of blood forms by her neck._

_Now, with the man and his girlfriend dead, and with the blood lust gone, Kaoru feels nothing. He feels numb. The tearing sensation is gone. A lock of hair falls out of place, and he moves it aside._

"_Why am I not screaming?" he asks aloud. "I should be freaking out right now. I mean, I killed two people!" He looks around him, at the bloody floor, at his bloody clothes, and he knows why. His heart is broken._

_Kaoru quietly changes out of his sports clothes and into his jeans and white tank-top. A bell rings, signifying the end of the hour. He gets up off the bench he is sitting on, and he walks out of the room. Before leaving, he turns around to look at the bodies one last time._

"_So, this is what it's like to not have a heart."_

***

When Black Cupid finishes telling his story, he glares at Suzuna through his black sunglasses. "That's why I'm doing this, bitch," he growls venomously.

"O…okay…" Suzuna squeaks. "But that…doesn't explain why you're called 'Black Cupid'…" Her words are cut off when Black Cupid squeezes her throat with his muscular arm.

"I just TOLD YOU!" he shouts. "I'm Black Cupid because I shoot arrows and I hate love!" The criminal gestures around to all of his fellow teammates. "And these guys are with me all the way, one hundred percent!"

"Yeah!" one cries out. "Love sucks!"

"Who needs it?!" a second Unlucky howls.

"Not us!" exclaims a third.

Black Cupid's smirk twists into a sadistic grin. "That's right! So, because we're all about the chaos and being bad-ass, we decided we're gonna take over this bank and kill everyone inside! Ain't nothing more bad-ass than that, right?" He cocks his crossbow and aims it at Suzuna's head.

"And as for you, well, you were kissing that wimpy little prick in the park, and I'm all about destroying love, so, y'know, you were in the way. I had to take you out."

Suzuna scowls at him. "That makes no sense," she mumbles.

"Hey, shut up! I am armed and dangerous!"

"Ke-ke-ke-ke! So am I!" says a man at the door of the bank.

Kaoru and the Unluckies look to the glass doors they had barricaded shut and find there are three men standing there, each of them garbed in a strange costume. The one who spoke is a tall man with spiky blonde hair, cloaked in black from head to toe, his eyes covered by a demonic mask. To his right is a giant of a man, almost seven feet tall, who is clad in a monk's robe and wears a red leather helmet on his head. On the demonic man's left is a smaller man who is wearing red and black, and has what looks like a football helmet on his head, his eyes shielded by a green mask.

Kaoru shouts, "The hell?!" How did you freaks get in here?!?"

The man in the black cackles, "We have our ways! Now, give up the girl and we'll let you go unharmed!"

"Never!" Kaoru exclaims. "We're not scared of a bunch of queers running around in tights!"

"Oh-ho-ho! We ARE freaks, I'll give you that," the man in black says, "but we have more power than a little prick like you can ever imagine! Warrior, break some skulls!"

The giant man nods and punches the tile floor of the bank. All the Unluckies standing up fall to the ground from the immense and powerful shockwave. Before they can stand up, the Warrior stomps over to a few of the criminals, picks them up, and holds them all in a headlock with just one arm.

"Please let us down!" one cries.

"We didn't mean nothing by it!" a second howls.

"Don't kill us!" exclaims a third.

The Warrior smiles behind the protection of his leather mask. "Sorry," he says to the Unluckies, "but you're the bad guys. I can't let you go." The criminals in his arm all squirm in a desperate attempt to escape the coming pain, but the man's grip is just too powerful. As the Warrior stands in his spot, taking deep breaths, the Unluckies can feel a surge of energy rising up inside of his body. Suddenly, the man's eyes snap open, revealing bright orange flames. He presses the men closer to his body, squeezing the air from their lungs.

Rearing his head back, the Warrior roars, "FUNNURBA!" He exerts all his gathered power into crushing his foes against his ultra-thick body. The sound of bones breaking fills the still and quiet bank. The Warrior drops the Unluckies a few seconds later. They all land on the floor with a sickening thud.

"You son of a bitch!"

"Get him!"

"Kill the freak!"

Several Unluckies aim their crossbows and fire at the Warrior, but none of their arrows do any damage to the large man. All the shots bounce off his rotund body and fall to the floor harmlessly. While the Unluckies all stand scared, Akumetsu leaps on top of the Warrior's body and pulls out two large machine guns.

"Ke-ke-ke-ke! Die, you lousy, fucking scumbags!" he screams at the criminals with manic glee.

"Akumetsu!" shouts the Warrior, "I thought you weren't going to kill any of them!"

"I'm not," the devilish man cackles, "I'm just going to make them feel a new kind of hurt!"

With that, he begins firing his machine guns, spraying forth red lights from the weapons. All the Unluckies are hit as Akumetsu leaps into the air and spins around. Every time one is hit with a bullet, a red light explodes on his chest and throws him back several feet. Many of the Unluckies near the entrance of the bank are thrown through the glass windows of the entrance. Miraculously, none of the hostages are hit by the shots.

"That's new. What's that?" asks the Warrior.

"It's a special weapon called the 'Devil Fire'," Akumetsu explains. "It only affects those whose hearts have been turned to evil."

"Good thing no one else has them, right?"

"Can it, fat-ass." Akumetsu looks over at Eyeshield 21 and smirks, displaying his hellish fangs to all in the room. "It's all up to you, fucking eyeshield," he says with a glare. "Kill him dead. Don't hold back. Let that fucker have it." Eyeshield 21 nods back to the devil man and then vanishes before everyone's eyes. Whereas most everybody in the room believes him to have vanished like a ghost, Akumetsu knows perfectly well where the speedster has gone to. Or not. After all, does that bushy-haired emo boy really have such a good control on his powers?

Black Cupid starts glancing around frantically. "Wh-Where the fuck did he just go?!?" he screams in fear. Suddenly, a red and black blur dashes by him and Eyeshield 21 reappears at his side.

"Sorry," he says to the girl in Black Cupid's arms. "I ran a little too far. Don't worry; I'll have you out in a second." He disappears from vision again and then, an instant later, Suzuna is no longer in Cupid's grasp any longer.

"What the f---"

Before the full sentence leaves Kaoru's mouth, his body freezes in place, mouth agape, for time itself has been stopped by Eyeshield 21.

***

The masked hero runs, with Suzuna in his arms, all the way into the park where they just were not twenty minutes ago. While sprinting along the ground, the speedster notes that everyone else seems not to be moving at all. They all appear frozen in place, wherever they might be.

_I'll have to ask Hiruma about that when this is all said and done._

He runs over to a bench in the park, near the frozen pond, and places Suzuna down onto wooden seat. The girl with indigo hair blinks a few times and looks around at her surroundings.

"What…" she asks cautiously, "What just happened?"

"I saved you, Suzuna," says Eyeshield 21. "You're safe here."

"Wait, how do you know my name?"

The hero removes his helmet from his head, letting out his messy brown hair. Right away, Suzuna knows who he is.

"S…Sena?! Is that really you?!?"

Sena smiles sadly. "Yeah, it's…it's me."

"How long have you been-"

"Like this? Not long," he answers.

"Oh." Suzuna looks around at the frozen world around her and asks, "Did you do this?"

"Yeah," Sena replies. "I think it's a part of this super-speed thing."

"So, you can run really fast?"

"Basically. But I think I can do so much more with this. Watch!"

Sena sits down next to her and wraps Suzuna in his arms. The slight girl lets out a yelp of surprise, but then returns the hug. While the two are embraced, warmth spreads between the two of them. Sena is concentrating as hard as he can, trying to make his molecules vibrate quickly enough to produce heat, but not so much that Suzuna will get hurt.

"Wow," Suzuna softly coos, "you're all warm and…toasty."

"Heh, I guess so." The two let go of each other, but their eyes stay locked. Out of the corner of his eye, Sena can see people beginning to move at a snail's pace. He knows that he needs to get back to the bank.

Suzuna touches Sena's shoulder and says, "Hey, get back there. They need you."

"You sure? I can try to keep time-"

"No, you need to get back there. C'mon, you're a hero!" As Sena rises from the bench and slides his helmet back on, Suzuna reaches out and tugs on his arm. Her face carries a look of worry. Her eyes are wide with anxiousness, her mouth is turned down in a frown.

"Be safe," she tells Eyeshield 21.

"I'll be back in a flash," he says to the girl in lavender. He disappears in a burst of crimson lightning, leaving her on the bench by herself. Before even a second has passed, he reappears in front of her. He smiles awkwardly then leans down and gives Suzuna a quick kiss on the lips. When she looks back at Eyeshield 21, she can tell that he is blushing underneath the helmet.

"I just, y'know, figured that would be the cool, superhero thing to do. Later!" He sprints off again, leaving Suzuna flushed and bewildered.

Suzuna looks back in the direction of the bank, then folds her hands and decides to wait patiently on the bench for Sena's return. A minute passes, and she stands up. "To hell with waiting! I'm not gonna miss this for the world!" As time begins slowly falling back into its normal speed, Suzuna skates off back to the bank to watch the end of the fight.

She exclaims to the sluggish world, "My first kiss was with a superherooooooo!!!"

***

"---uck?!?"

Black Cupid is punched hard in the face, just as time unfreezes. Eyeshield 21 is standing right before him, a gloved fist extended right where Black Cupid was just standing. The villainous archer flies right through the room and crashes into the marble wall. He collapses in pain, but was picked back up by his assailant.

"I should kill you," the hero growls into Black Cupid's face, "but I won't. That'd just make me scum like you." He raises his fist into the air, aimed for Kaoru's head, but pauses when the villain tries to talk.

"Wh-wh-what the hell are you!?" he squeals in fear.

"I'm Eyeshield 21," says the masked man, "and you're about to be killed."

The last thing Black Cupid remembered before blacking out was the gloved fist flying at his face at over 200 miles per hour.

***

Outside the bank, in the unfrozen world, amidst the crowd of onlookers, police officers and news reporters, two young college students were watching the scene to the best of their advantage. One was dressed in a gray sweatshirt with the hood pulled up, covering his dark blonde hair, dark sunglasses, jeans, and white sneakers. The other is wearing basically the same outfit, except his hood is pulled down. A dark blue hat covers his black hair, while his stern eyes are left uncovered.

"Man oh man!" exclaims the tall one with the sunglasses. "This is so cool! We're getting to see actual superheroes fighting each other!"

"Yes, it is most impressive," the shorter one with stern eyes grunts, "but they do not seem so 'super' to me."

"Huh? What do you mean, Shin?"

"I mean, Sakuraba, that there are others like them. What makes them so super?"

"Lighten up, will you?"

At that time, Mamori Anezaki passes by the bank, coming back from the grocery store, having just picked up some ingredients for that evening's dinner. She sees the crowd and wonders aloud, "What's going on?" She gets her answer in the form of a devilish laugh.

"Ke-ke-ke-KE!" Akumetsu howls with laughter. "For the first time ever, the day is saved, thanks to the DEVIL BAT ACTION SQUAD!"

Mamori pushes her way to the front of the crowd, just as Akumestu, the Warrior, and Eyeshield 21 are making the crowd part. She moves towards them and Akumetsu brushes right by her. She feels a twinge run up her arm and she turns to look at Akumetsu. The girl feels like she knows him from somewhere, but she cannot place the man's identity.

_What a basket case!_ She says in her mind. _What's the deal with the costumes?_

***

An hour later, after taking Suzuna back to her dormitory room and explaining how he had acquired his super-speed, Sena was back in the Devil's Lair, seated at a stone table with twelve chairs. The Warrior is to his left, filling up his gigantic chair, while Akumetsu is seated directly across from him. All three of the students have removed their masks.

"So, fucking bush-head," says Hiruma, "do you still reject my invitation?"

"It's okay if you say no, Sena," Kurita tells him. "You don't need to worry about it."

Sena pauses to form his thoughts and then sighs. "After telling Suzuna about what happened, she thought it would be really incredible if we were to form a superhero team. I'm all for it, but under one condition: we are NOT going to force any more powers onto anyone, understand???"

Kurita glances back and forth between Sena and Hiruma and wonders if Hiruma will really accept this. The devilish young man chortles with laughter.

"Kid, you've got guts. Deal." He extends a hand to Sena, saying, "Welcome to the team." Just as Sena grabs his hand to shake it, he feels a prick in the palm of his own hand. He glances down and finds a drop of blood forming in his palm.

"What did you just do?!" he asks Hiruma, bewildered.

"I just stuck a tracker in ya, so I can find you at anytime, fucking bush-head!"

"WHAAAAAT?!?"

***

_And so, the three heroes stood around the magnificent stone table, each garbed in their battle uniform. The evil-slaying Akumetsu, the super-fast Eyeshield 21, and the humongous Warrior, all stood there, their hands extended out into the center of the table. After their long and tiring battle with the Unlucky Valentine's Crew, the three are glad to be back in their secret headquarters. They have come to the realization that the world needs their help, and that, when they work together, there is not a single opponent that can match them._

"_We make a pretty good team," says Eyeshield 21 to the other two. "I think the team is a perfect idea!"_

"_Yeah, let's do this!" Akumetsu cackles._

"_Yes! Onward to victory!" the Warrior exclaims._

_All three throw their hands on the table upward and shout, "DEVIL BAT ACTION SQUAD, UNITE!"_

***

**NEXT TIME: ENTER THE WHITE KNIGHT AND THE INVISIBLE MAN!!!**


	5. 5: The MillionYen Debut of the NoBody

**Chapter 5: The Million-Yen Debut of the No-Body Man!**

_At the stroke of midnight, the citizens of Deimon City are sleeping soundly in their beds, cozy in their dreamlands. Suddenly, there is a cry for help that breaks the night air!_

"_Help!" cries Hiroshi Nakamura. The forty-year old banker is cornered in an alleyway by a pair of men wearing black masks. Terror fills every inch of the small man's body as the men corner him, handguns drawn and ready._

"_Give us everything you got, old man," says one of the muggers, "or Mr. Chameleon is gonna have to get down here and get personal!"_

"_Yeah, fool!" says the other. "Wallet, watch, whatever you got, we're takin'!"_

"_T-T-T-Take everything! J-J-J-Just p-pl-please don't hurt me!" the banker whimpers._

_The muggers snicker as they close in on the man. "Aw, now where's the fun in that?" asks the first._

"_Yeah, we've got a reputation to uphold!" the other chortles._

_Just before they can get their hands on the poor banker, there comes the sound of running feet coming ever closer to the muggers. Without warning and seemingly without cause, one mugger is thrown back by an invisible force, while the other feels his feet being knocked out from under him. The first mugger scrambles off the ground and flits his head around nervously._

"_What the hell was that?!" he screams. "Is there a super here!?"_

"_Maybe there is, and maybe there isn't," a disembodied voice yawns. "You're going down, super or not."_

"_Found ya!" the other mugger screams as he tackles the air where the voice came from. He receives only a face full of filthy concrete as his reward. There comes the sound of a clucking tongue from a nearby dumpster._

"_Too slow, friend, too slow," the voice taunts. There comes the sound of boots clicking against the concrete, and the invisible force approaches the mugger on the ground before picking him up by the collar and swinging him over to his partner in crime. From the air comes the sound of cracking knuckles. Hiroshi, who has not moved since the mugger was punched, feels eyes gazing at him._

"_Don't worry," the voice tells him, "this won't take long."_

"_Fuck you!" the first mugger howls. He lets out the clip in his gun, while his partner does the same. Hiroshi feels a pair of hands pushing him to the side, onto the ground. There is a wincing sound, like a person in pain, and he sees blood pouring out of some invisible force in the air._

"_Ooh, that hurt," the invisible man groans as he wipes the blood off his arm. "That really hurt. No big deal though."_

"_Wh-What the fuck are you?!" the second mugger cries._

"_Oh. I'm Nobody," says the invisible man. The blood vanishes away and once more, the muggers lose sight of the enigmatic hunter. Suddenly, both men feel fists being shoved into their guts, then a crack across the back, followed by another blow to the back with what feels like a kick. The muggers collapse to the ground in agony, but the invisible man grabs them by the head and slams both into the concrete. A pool of blood forms around their heads._

_Hiroshi nervously begins to stand up. "Are they d-d-d-dead?" he asks the air around him, hoping his invisible savior is still there._

"_Nope," the invisible man sighs. "I tend to frown on killing. Bit of a principles thing, really."_

"_O-O-Oh. D…Do you think I might be able to…to thank you? In the flesh?" asks Hiroshi._

"_Sure. Why not?" the invisible man replies. Suddenly, he appears in front of Hiroshi, and the banker can finally see the man who saved him. The invisible man is built slim, like a runner, and is dressed in a superhero's costume. He wears a red helmet that covers the top part of his head, goggles with a red strap and silver lenses across his face, a red sleeveless top that has a large, silver 'N' on the front, and silver, skin-tight shorts that end just above his knees and have a red line on the outer sides of the thighs. Silver and red shoes adorn his feet, just as silver and red, fingerless gloves are on his hands. The man is very young, and has a relaxed look on his face despite having been shot in the arm._

"_Don't worry, the police will be here soon to pick these guys up," the now-visible man says to Hiroshi._

_Hiroshi replies, "Thank you, um…"_

"_I'm called 'The No-Body Man'," says the hero. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to be off."_

_With that, the No-Body Man disappears from sight once more, the diminishing sound of shoes smacking against the ground the only sign that there was another man in the alley. He runs off, unseen, into the night once more, hunting down crime wherever it might be! Wherever evil lurks, he will be there, never seen. Though his actions might go by ignored, he does it not for the glory, but for the pride he feels in keeping the city safe. For he is a humble No-Body, after all…_

_***_

"So, Hiruma…what, uh, what's this machine for?" asked Sena.

The young first-year was with his fellow superheroes, Hiruma and Kurita, in Hiruma's "devil bat-cave". Today, they wanted to test out some of Sena's powers, and to make sure that there was nothing wrong with his body. Hiruma had said that it was just going to be a few examinations to gauge his speed and the strain it put on Sena's muscles. For some reason, when he had said this, the demonic man had cackled endlessly, though Sena figured this was common, as Kurita hadn't even flinched.

It was a few days after the Unlucky Valentines incident. Eyeshield 21 had been seen all over each and every news station in that time; the media just couldn't get enough of the mystery man "who could run as fast as light." (These were the words of a regional reporter, Kumabukuro something-or-other.) Everywhere in the city, there were images of Sena, in costume, punching out Black Cupid with a rapid speed punch. Word was spreading fast about the hero, though the question most people were asking was "When will he show up again?"

"I told you, damn bush-head, that this test is to see how your body is channeling the hyper-speed energy," said Hiruma. "All you have to do is run on that treadmill until I say to stop."

"Fine," said Sena.

He began to run, slowly at first, not even close to the levels of speed he had achieved three days ago. Sena was not at all focusing on the test at hand, but rather, what he could be doing besides this. He and Suzuna could be hanging out, watching a movie, he could be over at Monta's, playing video games, or he could be at Mamori's, reorganizing his room and its contents. Okay, scratch the last one. He could either be at the movies or playing video games. But running on a treadmill with wires hooked up to the major muscle locations on his body? This was not at all what Sena would consider fun.

He was shaken from his mile-a-minute thinking by a jolt of electricity. It came from the various wires, which came from a giant machine, which was being controlled by Hiruma, who was sitting in a black chair. His long, pointy fingers were tracing over a glowing keyboard, pressing buttons over and over again.

"Bear in mind, bush-head, that if you run too slow, you will receive a shock to your body," said Hiruma. "Unless you want to come out of this looking like a charred piece of meat, I'd advise you to pick up the tempo."

"Hiruma, are you sure this is safe?" asked Kurita nervously. He was Hiruma's partner in crime, sure, but he didn't like seeing others in pain. Unless they deserved it, of course.

"Eh, maybe," replied Hiruma. "When was the last time we had someone with super-speed down here?"

"Uh…never?"

"Yeah, so your guess is as good as mine," said Hiruma.

Sena began running faster and faster in order to avoid another dangerous shock from Hiruma. As he ran, he could feel the muscles in his body tensing, growing more taught as the seconds went by. He almost felt broken by the time Hiruma said, "Okay, fuzz-ball, that was good. You can stop now."

At this, Sena simply stopped, not realizing that the large treadmill he was running on was still going. The machine threw Sena off and straight into a large machine on the other side of the room. Hiruma laughed so much that he fell from his chair. Kurita, on the other hand, ran over to the pile of equipment Sena had crashed into.

"Oh geez, Sena! Are you okay!?" asked Kurita. He tossed away machine after machine until he happened upon Sena. Having found the smaller boy, Kurita picked him up and gave him a tight squeeze that took all the air from Sena's lungs. Sena assumed that Kurita was giving him a hug. A very, very painful hug.

"K…Kuri…ta…" wheezed Sena, unable to form a complete word.

"Ease up, fat ass," said Hiruma as he sauntered over to the two. "We need him to be able to breathe before we give him the next test."

Sena's eyes grew wide with terror as he wondered what new tortures Hiruma had in store for him. Mamori had been right to warn Sena about him. If only she had warned him about staying away from particle accelerators as well…

***

"So after another run on the treadmill, he had me run through a room filled with red-hot lasers," said Sena to Suzuna. He was no longer in Hiruma's training center, but instead, outside, walking through the snow on the college campus. The two of them met up shortly after Sena had finished his training with Hiruma, and Suzuna had suggested they get some hot chocolate. Sena leaped at the prospect, or would have, had he not felt so worn out from the exercises. He would complain about how much it hurt just to walk, but he didn't want to look bad in front of Suzuna.

"Geez, for real?" asked the indigo-haired girl. "How are you still alive after all that?!"

"Turns out that it was an exercise to see if I could slow down my perception of time, so the lasers wouldn't hit me. It's like what happened when I got you away from that bank robber the other day," said Sena.

"Wow," said Suzuna, her eyes wide with wonder. "So, what else can you do?"

"I'm not sure," he replied. "Seems that guy didn't want me getting TOO worn out, so he decided to cut me some slack for today."

"How fast were you going on the treadmill?" Suzuna asked as she cleared off a snow-covered bench.

"I think Hiruma stopped me at…somewhere around 423 miles per hour. Wait, don't sit down yet," said Sena. He removed his red gloves and put his hands to the cold metal of the bench.

"What're you-"

"Hang on, you'll see."

Suzuna watched as Sena's hands began to glow bright red, and steam rose slowly from the bench. All the snow and ice on the bench melted and evaporated in just a few seconds, leaving behind a dry, very warm bench. Sena stood up, slipped his gloves back onto his hands, and gestured to the bench.

"I can also heat stuff. Sort of like a human microwave," said Sena.

Cautiously, Suzuna sat down on the bench. "Ooh!" she exclaimed. "It's real warm! Guess I don't need a heater if I stay with you, huh?" Suzuna laughed. A crimson blush spread across Sena's face as he sat down, smiling, forgetting the hellish exercise he had just gone through.

***

Not long afterwards, Sena walked back to his and Mamori's apartment by himself. He and Suzuna had parted ways, though not before she made him promise to take her out for dinner some time soon.

_Go out to dinner?_ Sena thought to himself. _But…we've barely just met! I guess I'm pretty new at this though…We've only just talked and walked when we've gone out together. What do you do on an actual date? I better ask Mamori, she'll have an answer for me._

"Mamori, I'm back!" said Sena as he pushed open the door to the apartment.

"Oh, Sena! Guess who I bumped into today!" said Mamori from the kitchen.

"Who?" asked Sena.

"You remember Tetsuo Ishimaru, right?"

Sitting at the kitchen counter on one of the stools that Mamori had was a man that Sena remembered from his high school days. Ishimaru had black hair that was always shaved down to a buzz-cut, tanned skin, and long, gangly limbs. He kept in shape throughout high school by being a runner for the Deimon track and cross-country team, though he was often in need of members. Today, he was wearing a big, gray jacket, gray sweatpants and white sneakers. A cup of steaming coffee in his hands, Ishimaru waved to Sena.

"Yo, Sena! Long time, no see!" said the tall man as he got up and walked over to Sena. There was an obvious height difference between the two men, Ishimaru being six feet tall and Sena only being five feet, seven inches. They both shook hands, Sena noting that Ishimaru's grip felt limp and weak.

"Ishimaru! Good to see you again!" said Sena. "Do you go to the university?"

"Nope," Ishimaru replied. "I couldn't afford to get into university, what with my mom being sick and my dad, well…not being in the picture, I had to take care of things around the house."

"Whoa, seriously?!" Sena gasped.

"Yeah, but it's fine, really! I've been making things manage for some time now, and my older siblings have been helping out when they can, so it's no big deal," said Ishimaru.

Sena walked into the kitchen to get a soda from the refrigerator. "Well, that's good," he said. "I'm really glad you're doing okay, Ishimaru. Hey, um, Mamori, I've got a favor to ask you."

"What do you need, Sena?" asked Mamori.

"Well, it's, uh…I need to borrow some…yen."

"What for?" questioned Mamori.

"There's this girl, Suzuna, that I met here the other day, and I-"

"Say no more, say no more," Mamori excitedly exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. "You want to treat this girl to a night out, right? Let me see how much I have on me…"

"N-No! You don't need to worry about giving it to me right now!" Sena stammered.

Mamori stopped searching her purse. "You're right, Sena," she said as she put her wallet away. "Sorry, I guess I got a little bit carried away. So who is this girl? What's she like? Is she a student here?"

"Uh…her name's Suzuna Taki and, yeah, she's a student here. She's very, um, energetic. Which isn't a bad thing! I mean…she's very nice and she likes to roller skate and she's a little clumsy but-"

"Easy, Sean," Mamori giggled as she patted the nervous boy on the shoulder. "You don't need to tell me everything. Just make sure that when you do go out with Suzuna, you just be safe but have fun. By the way, what were you thinking of doing?"

"Dinner at Uzumaki Ramen with Monta and then we'd go see that new Evangelion film, I guess," Sena wondered. What was he supposed to do on a REAL date?

"That sounds like fun, Sena, but I'm not sure that bringing her to a ramen shop with Raimon is a good idea," Mamori said with a smile. "Maybe you should just make it the two of you. Oh, there's this great, new steakhouse my friends took me to the other night. You two would love it! I'll call them and make a reservation for tonight, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that'd be great! Thanks, Mamori!" Sena said as he picked up his cellphone and began typing a text message for Suzuna.

"No problem, Sena! Let me know what's going on, okay?" asked Mamori. She turned and began to reorganize some papers that were lying on the counter when she noticed that Ishimaru was still sitting there, drinking his coffee slowly.

"Oh, Ishimaru! I'm sorry, I completely forgot you were still here!" she apologized.

"No, don't worry about it," the tall man replied. "I probably need to get going anyways. Got work to do, y'know?" He swallowed the last of his coffee and headed for the door. "Thanks for having me over, Mamori."

"It was my pleasure, Ishimaru," Mamori said with a blush of embarrassment on her face.

Ishimaru chuckled. "Mamori, we've known each other for years now. Call me Tetsuo, please."

"Okay, see you later…Tetsuo," Mamori said with a wave.

"There ya go!" he exclaimed as he walked out the door. "Later! Oh, and tell Sena I said goodbye!"

***

Ishimaru shut the door quietly shut the door behind him. He hated making a lot of noise, always had, and probably always would. People always asked him why he didn't speak up more, but all Ishimaru could tell them was, "I think if you don't have anything to say, you shouldn't say anything at all." This was his favorite saying of all, and one that he took to heart ever since he first heard it.

As a matter of fact, Ishimaru often wondered why people were always making spectacles of themselves. Chances are that, if you tried to pull off something great, you either succeeded or failed spectacularly, and who likes those chances? Not him. Ishimaru preferred to remain in anonymity; it kept him from being bothered by other people and their incessant need to make noise and bring attention to themselves. 'Work hard and do the right things, even if you aren't noticed for it,' that's what his mother had told him.

"If only you could see me now, Mom," Ishimaru said as he pulled a black ski hat from his pocket. He placed it on his head and pulled his hood over that. Then he took two black gloves from his pockets and slid them onto his hands. Dressed for the trek back to his house, Ishimaru vanished into thin air. Only the tell-tale signs of footprints revealed that there was someone walking away from Mamori Anezaki's apartment. Tetsuo Ishimaru had become invisible to the human eye.

It was a gift that he was born with, although, for a long time, Ishimaru never realized just what he was capable of. He often wondered why people failed to pick him for teams during games, how they could not possibly see him standing in front of their very eyes. He wondered this until he watched himself disappear one day when he was ten years old. Young Ishimaru had needed to go to the bathroom very badly, and he ran down the hall until he found the room. What he didn't know was that when he ducked inside, he had gone into the wrong bathroom; he was in the girl's bathroom by mistake. So, when he heard a group of girls come into the bathroom and stop in front of the mirrors, Ishimaru had no idea what to do. He wished that he could vanish, just walk away without making them notice him. So he got his wish: Ishimaru became completely invisible, and he made it out of the girl's bathroom without any of the girls realizing he was ever there. For many days afterward, Ishimaru practiced this power, to see how it worked, but he never quite fully understood how he managed to use it.

So, here he was: a young man who, although slightly forgettable, had a steady job and a power that ordinary men only dreamed of having. Ishimaru could not have been happier with how his life had turned out. He often thanked his ancestors for making him so ordinary and forgettable, as it greatly helped his…part-time job.

***

"Do you see him yet, fat-ass?"

"No sign of him yet, Hiruma," said Kurita into the walky-talky. "Are you sure he'll be by here?"

"Of course I'm sure, moron. He may be invisible, but that doesn't mean that we can't find him."

Hiruma, dressed in a furry, white jacket and long, white pants, stood on a rooftop in Deimon City, a pair of high-tech binoculars in his hands. Kurita and he were on the lookout for a mysterious vigilante that had begun to operate in their city; Hiruma, being the crafty devil that he was, could not stand to think that there was another super-human in the city. So he rifled through his 'Black Files' and located three men who had (unsuccessfully) robbed a bank a month ago, and, after a great deal of string-pulling and threatening on Hiruma's part, those three criminals would be robbing the same bank today. All this was part of the devil's scheme to draw out the invisible man, or, as Hiruma referred to him, "The No-Body Man".

Everything was going according to plan so far: Kurita had been planted across the street from the bank at a hamburger joint, where he kept one eye on his enormous meal and one eye on the bank; the robber's were already inside the bank building, making a ruckus; the police and emergency personnel were outside, waiting for a chance to get inside and end the situation. If Hiruma had his way, and he usually did, the No-Body Man would arrive soon to break up the fake robbery.

Soon, the walky-talky in his hand crackled to life. Kurita's voice called out through the other end. "Hiruma? He's here. There's something pushing the crowd apart, like a guy trying to get through. He's actually here!"

"Great," said Hiruma with a wicked grin. "I'll be there in a second."

Black smoke swirled up around Hiruma's feet, covering him from head to toe. In a heartbeat, Hiruma had gone away in the smoke and reappeared in the alleyway behind the bank. The space would have been too small for an ordinary man, but the devilish student was far from an ordinary man; his lithe body fit perfectly in the small area. Slowly and silently, he slinked around to the right side of the building and hid behind a dumpster. This way, he could keep an eye on the side door.

Some time passed before anything happened, but, eventually, Hiruma heard the sounds of stampeding feet and cheering. These sounds made Hiruma cackle with glee, as it meant that No-Body had saved the day. The door to the bank opened up, and Hiruma watched as nothing stepped out into the alley. He knew that there was somebody there though, so he stepped out from behind the dumpster.

"Hey, fucking nobody!" he called out. "I know you're here, so show yourself."

"Well now, I can't just do that, can I?" asked a disembodied voice. "I mean, if I were to show myself to you, you could see me, and then I would be open to an attack, right?"

Oh, he was good. "You have my word that I will not harm you if you show yourself, okay?" Hiruma sarcastically promised. "Now show yourself before I start shooting."

"Fine, fine."

Tetsuo Ishimaru appeared before Hiruma, standing in the spot where his voice had been coming from just an instant ago. His plain face showed a faint sign of surprise.

"Well, Hiruma, long time, no see," he said nonchalantly.

"Yep. Three years or so, Ishimaru," said Hiruma. "Let's screw the formalities and get right down to business, okay? I know who you are and you know who I am. I'm putting together a team of people like you, people who do the right thing in a 'super' kind of way. You'd be perfect for the team. What d'you say?"

Ishimaru chuckled warmly. "Sorry, too 'show-offy' for me. I prefer to work alone, where no one can see me coming. No offense, Hiruma, but you aren't exactly the 'subtle' type." He expected Hiruma's evil grin to drop into a frown, but it only remained up.

"You know me, Ishimaru. I'm not the kind to give up easily. One day, you'll be working for me. EVERYONE will work for me someday, and you know it," said Hiruma. "Why waste my time and everyone else's? Join the Devil Bat Action Squad now, before something unfortunate happens and you've got no choice but to join, kekeke!"

"No means no, Hiruma," said Ishimaru. "I'm not going to join your team and that's final! I've got a good life right now, doing this and everything; I don't need you coming in and changing it all around. Leave me alone."

"But-"

"Leave me alone," Ishimaru groaned as he turned his back and began to walk away. "I just want to be left alone."

"Fine, have it your way," Hiruma growled. "But I should warn you: there's a group of supers in town that would just love to take a piece out of your sorry ass! You're going to need my help soon, Tetsuo Ishimaru!"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Ishimaru said. With that, he waved to Hiruma and instantaneously disappeared.

"Fucking boring bastard," Hiruma hissed under his breath. He picked up his walky-talky and spoke to Kurita. "Hey, fat-ass, we've got a little bit of trouble. Ishimaru said no."

"Aww…" moaned Kurita. "What're we going to do now?"

Hiruma pulled an arrowhead from his pocket and examined it in the light of the sun. "First, we figure out who's sending us these damn arrows. Once we've got that figured out, we'll get Ishimaru onto the team. He doesn't know it, but Tetsuo Ishimaru is going to be playing a big part in the days to come."

***

It was 7:49 when Sena finally made it to Suzuna's apartment. He was wearing a nice shirt underneath a thick jacket, jeans freshly ironed by Mamori, and white sneakers she had helped him pick out (his old ones were "absolutely filthy" according to his roommate). There he stood, nervous as ever, ready to knock on the door, when Suzuna opened it. She looked lovely, with her hair pinned up, not too much make-up on, and the frustration-induced blush on her face really brought out her features.

"Sena, where have you been?!" she prodded. "We're going to be late! Our reservation's at eight o'clock!"

"Well, um, Iiiiiii…" he stammered.

"Yeeeeeah?" she asked, curious.

"I had to g-g-go pretty far to g-g-get these flowers," he said as he produced a bouquet of violet flowers in his hands. "Th-Th-There's this flower shop in my hometown that s-s-s-sells these. A friend of mine thought I should get you some."

Suzuna gasped in surprise, and her scowl from before gave way to a soft smile. "Sena, they're…they're lovely! Thank you!" She ran inside, saying, "Let me go put these in some water!"

Sena followed her inside. It was the first time he was in a girl's apartment other than Mamori's, and he was really amazed at what he saw. Where Mamori's was neat and tidy, Suzuna's looked as though a bomb had gone off in the center. There were magazines scattered all over the place (football magazines, from what Sena could tell), a pile of random things where Sena assumed was a couch, and a giant case filled with all sorts of little trinkets and pictures. Many of them featured a goofy-looking guy with a goatee and long hair. He seemed to be pretty close to Suzuna, whoever he was.

"Say, Suzuna, who's the guy in all these pictures?" asked Sena.

"Him? That's just my idiot brother," replied Suzuna. There was a great deal of disdain in her voice, indicating some animosity between her brother and her. "Don't worry about him."

She walked out of the kitchen with the flowers arranged in a milk jug. "Sorry. I know it doesn't look good; I just don't have a fancy vase or anything right now," the indigo-haired beauty apologized. "So, how're we going to get to the restaurant?"

"Oh, that," said Sena. He blushed and murmured something Suzuna couldn't understand. It was kind of cute, she thought, seeing him all hunched over and acting anxious. "W-W-W-Well, I-I-I-I-I th-thought that I c-c-c-could, uh-um…c-c-c-carry you t-t-t-to th-th-the st-steak h-h-h-house?

Suzuna placed a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Of course it's okay, silly!" She wrapped her arms around Sena's neck then hopped up into his arms. "Y'know, Sena, you're a real gentleman."

Sena felt so happy and embarrassed and shy all at once, but he still tried his best to keep a cool composure. "Th-Then l-l-let's be off!" he exclaimed as he ran off with her into the night. Of course, it wasn't as cool or as romantic as they would have liked, considering how they had to stop a fraction of a second later when Suzuna remembered she had left her front door wide open. Once they got back underway though, the two smiled, eagerly awaiting what the night would hold for both of them.

***

Atop the building adjacent to Suzuna's, there stood three men: a tall, handsome man with features like a model, a burly, smaller man with a stoic face set in stone, and a man in a wheelchair. They had been watching the apartment at the request of the man in the wheelchair, who needed to gather some data on a certain super-fast runner. As they had trained their eyes to spot his movement, they could easily tell when Sena had appeared, left, and reappeared at the apartment.

"What do you make of him, Shin," asked the man in the wheelchair.

"To be honest, Takami, I see nothing extraordinary in him, save for his speed," the stoic man grunted. "He runs fast, faster than I can imagine, but that looks like all he can do. And he slows down after his initial burst of speed. It is slight, but it is there. I doubt he is the opponent I have been waiting for."

"Seems pretty damn fast to me," said the handsome man. "But then, what do I know about superhumans?"

"More than you are aware of, Sakuraba," Takami told his friend.

For the first time in hours, Takami turns and wheels himself away. "Come on, you guys. We have all the data we need on Sena Kobayakawa that we need right now. Let's go get ready for tomorrow."

_**TO BE CONTINUED…**_


End file.
